Water motor



G. M F. MOOD May 7,- 1935.

WATER MOTOR Filed April 7, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 zjvwcn'vkw George MM0006 May 7, 1935. G. MCF. MOOD 2,000,731

' WATER MOTQOR Filed April 7, 1932 2 Sheets-sheet 2 George M 1: Moo f,

One of the objects of the Patented May 7, 1935' 1:1;5-5- 2.3-;

. j nbnnqa na s igisszl mNwmm, 5

This invention relates, to improvementsin ap paratus for utilizing'tidalebband-flow'rriver water orother source of water supply invthe,development of power. V V 1 inventioniis toautomatically store water ina reservoix: during-high tide, on from a flowing stream orthe like,'feed. this water constantly to a drainageqcreek or the like, and toutilize the water -on,its; way from the supply pond tothe drainage,creek to operate reciprocating buckets; the movements of whiehareapplied toa rotatablepishaft' on the like. .v v 9' q a My improvedapparatusfhae beendevised with aview ef wobt ainin g,power through;theme-of tide water, river water, or other suitablesouxee of watersupply, the mechanism b eing so; de-w signed as to make use of aquantity oithis water for its weight, The weight; of thewater is; made;use oi by means of 'afall oieahout five feet;

measured from the surface; -of; the ;souz;eejof supply to a; dry pond,drainage creel; or order to use the weight oithewate: io t tthe,production of power, it is necessary that, low er lever, approximatelyfive feet lowerv than i-the, upper level of the water supply pond or thelike he constantly maintained. so that the water used by] the machine,through the." normal laws of gravity; flow" away from the machine not toimpede the work of the machine by so; 'cumulating and graduallyrisingvin it, For

purpose, any suitable drainage pond-off cir'eekr maybe provided forconstantly mammmmgm, lower level approximately. five Ie'eti lower theupperlevel of the riverf's'treamf.

A further object is toprovideappai a,t s 11 which buckets are mountedinja; pluraiijcyfofi wells andalternately oi'simul'taneouslyfraised andlowered; said buckets being adapted in their. movement to receive anddischarge" water at dfflerent levels in saidwells; and alsoito actuatemechanism for converting the'reciprocato 'y notlomthereofinto-rotarymotibhfl A still further object is to provide-gamut the upperextremity; of the 'wells, and" means on said buckets actuating 7saidgates" for con-'- trolling the flow of water from the supply-pondto'seid -wells; I

'I'o yeoapitulate; it is contemplated-muse the weight of a' quantity" ofwater, maintained at e V feet wet bearingupon a; surface: througha'd'ropof fi'v'e' 'feet; this five' Ioot Immensby the inflow'of tidetwicetwenty four hours. The five foot drop thfifhig'h u but weary poneor-lowtide 1e'veF'ia-rmamtamed: eazentwerity-rour nur and; more; panic feetlower than it iseatlhizhwatert-level, the;

return of wtide'-WQt8l";ilI$0:th1S=,dIY pond being pr vented; bysuitable dams and gates; allowing anouttlow but ,mowof wate z l;

With the iotegoing outlined-and-with. he obi e wh h H bp r thethe'invention, consists in 0: the nov l ieatw afi ndescxibee in de-: ahillestmeddmtm icc panyi s drawinm a p-ly pointed. outain the apagiste vtiompm vin e i m'o a e sm; s ratus, ane showing one to! thebngkets;uppermost vpositiom; said v'view ein t keemtrrish m t l i- -l '1 2o33-:i a- 'similar; view with the'bucket ew m ti r' mnhiem o I a v I Pia"dis a sectional viewim the line of Big; 1." u

' belowfthatiof the uppe portion of the 35:

t eam an e mwb so rc o w e As best shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, theluic m m HPDfljduat 1 J6 and; ,a

lower duct liwhieh- -gomrnwiieate through verf' Wa y d se he n; chutes8. etw en thea i o. ducts 1 nor mally pnevented b ending-gates at! whichcut (iii; the flowxfrom the upper duct to the mes-1e :LA- ket; .50ii'cimlates' each chute I8, and each bucket haram ,ope'nihgjfl its side:'to receive twater the 1| 6 when the bucketivmfuppesmostmositibn; In;fl'iatipusitim; in: meat the handle :3 (vii-the. bnckd an flmtment- 24on gate: n mellow theme-in elevated topeimit mem w now it into weeniemdescend mane chute w, am ss the bucket is descending.

In order to utilize the downward movement of the buckets for powerpurposes, I arrange along the duct 1.6, a rotatable shaft =26.supportedon suitable bearings 21. On the shaft, I mount bell-crank leversconsisting of arms ,28 and 29 which merge into one another by means,

of a collar 30. Such collar carries a" spring pressed pawl 3| thatcooperates-with ratchet teeth 32 on the shaft. 4 I M fl I A rod orconnection 33 has its ends connected respectively by universal joints 34and= 35 to a handle of one of the buckets and to the outer end ofithearm 29. *Acou'nter-weight 36 is carried bythe "outer end of the arm 28,and it is heavier than an 'empty bucket 20, but lighter than afullbucket. 1

For the purpose of yieldingly supporting each of the buckets inuppermost position, so the bucket will not start todescend until it isfull,-

lever and counter-weight for each one of the buckets, and in order forthe power "to be applied to the shaft 26 evenly, itmay be'ne'cessary toregulate the opening and closing of the trap doors H! by somesuitableiautomatictiming device which will operate the same in series.

From the above it will be understood that themechanism consists oftheshaft 26 to be rotated by the bell-crank leve'rf28, 29 at the distal endof which is attached a piston-like bucket 20, with an opening 2| toreceive a'- quantity 'ofwater from the 'supply'duct 16.

This 'quantity will be sufficient in weight to rapidly lower the bucketa distance of 'say five feet. In doing this, the bell-crank lever willrotate the shaft 26 through 'an are; of-approximately 45 degrees;

' As thegbell-crank lever works on the shaft through the instrumentalityof" a pawl and ratchet deviceyitwill" be understood that the lever runsfree when the bucket is drawn up-' wardly, but the pawl will catch onthe ratchet teeth' and turn the shaft when the lever is of the waterdeposited the invention, as, expressed in the claims.

lowered by the weight in the bucket.

The supply ductlB which carries the water from the supply pond or stream9 to the machine, has its upper edge on a level with' the supply pond,as "shown in Fig. l,-- and theduct I6 is preferably about-l2 inches deepand of a water substantially 12 inch'es in depth to each one of'thebuckets." a

When thebucket is forced up' by the counter weight 36,. the :gate [9being opened, water to the depth of about 12 inches flows from' l6through 2|,- intothe bucket,. adding a'weight sufiicient to cause thepiston-like bucket to. drop through the shaft [8 a distanceof about.feet. to the opening 25, throughwhich the, water is.

discharged into; -,the 'duc t j I]. As ,soonyas the bucket is loaded andstarts to descend, the controlling gate l9 automatically closes, andwhen the bucket reaches the bottom of the shaft l8, it is immediatelyemptied into the duct 11, the floor of which is approximately two inchesabove the bottom of the dry pond or drainage creek I3. The water flowingthrough the waste duct I I is distributed over the dry pond or creek ata level of approximately five feet below the level at which it wasobtained from the supply duct l6.", It can at once be seen that ifseveral bell- ;y crank levers should be attached with their buckets andcounter-weights to the shaft 26, the movements can be so timed that assoon as the first: bucket reaches the lower level, the second a one willhave been loaded and start its descent, and soon, so that the shaft canbe made to rotate through an are on 360 degrees and be kept rotatingwithout cessation as long as water from the supply pond or stream flowsthrough the ductlli in sufficient amount to supply the nec-" essary loador weight to the individual buckets to rotate the shaft. I

With a river stream or supply pond 9 of sufficient capacity, it isevident that there need never be any material diminution of the depth ofthe water in'the supply duct 16. Likewise, with a suflicient dry pond ordrainage creek l3 maintained at a low water level, that is, atapproximately two inches below the floor of the duct 11, it willbeseen'that the outflow from the waste duct ll will never be hampered.

- The machine, once started, with a river stream or supply pond 9maintained at the desired water level, and with a dry pond or drainagecreek l3 maintained at a low level as above explained the gates l9regulating the supply of water to the buckets beingonoe adjusted as faras the time of filling is concerned, so that each lever will take-up itspull on the shaft in definite sequence, it is manifest that the shaft 26will be rotated with a power dependent directly upon the length of thearms 29, the number of hellcrank'levers'and the water capacity of thebuckets without. any interruption whatever.

It is obvious that power may be taken off the shaft 26 by any suitablemeans, such, as a pulley 26a, and may be utilized for any suitablepurpose. ,7

'WhileI have disclosed what I now consider to be 7 a preferredembodiment of the invention in such manner that the same'may'be readilyunderstood by those skilled in the art, it is apparent that changes maybe made in the details disclosed, without departing from the spirit ofWhat is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus ofthe character described, comprising a sluice-wayconsisting of an upper supply duct and a lower waste duct communicatingthrough hollow shaft passages, buckets mounted for reciprocation in saidshaft passages'and arranged to receive water from the supply duct, saidbuckets descending in the shaft passages, due to the weight of the waterreceived and acting to dump said water into the waste duct, means forraising each bucket independently of the other buckets after said buckethas dumped its contents into the waste duct, and means for utilizingmovements of each bucket for generating power.

, 2. Apparatus of the, character described, com-. pri ing a sluice wayconsisting of. an upper sup,-v

ply duct and a lower waste duct communicating through hollow shaftpassages, buckets mounted for reciprocation in said shaft passagesfandarranged to receive water from the supply duct,

said buckets descending in the shaft passages due to the weight of thewater received and acting to dump said water into the waste duct, meansfor raising the buckets after they have dumped their contents into thewaste duct, means for utilizing movements of the buckets for generatingpower, and gates normally closing communication between the supply ductand the passages and engageable by the buckets and actuated thereby.- 1

3. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a sluice-wayconsisting of an upper supply duct and a lower waste duct communicating.

through hollow shaft passages, buckets mounted for reciprocation in saidshaft passages and arranged to receive water from the supply duct,- saidbuckets descending in the shaft j passages due to the weight of thewater received and acting to dump said water into the waste duct, meansfor raising the buckets after they have dumped their contents into thewaste duct, means for utilizing movements of the buckets for generatingpower, gates normally closing communication 'between the supply duct andthe shaft passagesand cooperating abutment surfaces on the gates'andbuckets for actuating said gates. I

4. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a sluice-wayconsisting of an upper supwaste duct, means for raising the bucketsafter they have dumped their contents into the waste duct and means forutilizing movements of the buckets for generating power, the lastmention d means including a rotatable shaft; a lever movably -mounted onthe shaft, a connection joining said lever to one of said buckets, and acooperating pawl and ratchet teeth for transmitting movements of thelever in one direction to said shaft. 1

5. A mechanism of the character described, comprising an upper watersupply duct, alower waste water duct, vertical shaft passages placingsaid ducts in communication, reciprocating buckets in the shaft passagesto receivewater from the supply duct and to be lowered by the weight ofsuch water until the buckets'jdump the water into the waste duct, gatesfor'controlling communication between the supply duct and the shaftpassages, means carried by the buckets for actuating said gates,a,rotatable power shaft provided with ratchet teeth, bellcrankleversloosely mounted on the shaftand having pawls to' engage the ratchetteeth for driving the shaft, a connection joining one end of each leverto'one of the buckets, and a counter-weight carried by the other endofeach lever. y

6. An apparatus of the character described, I

comprising a sluice-way consisting of an upper supply duct and alowerwaste duct communicating through hollow vertical shaft passages,cup-' shaped buckets mounted for reciprocation in said gates controllingthe inlets of the shaft passages,

means on the buckets engageable with the gates for controllingthe-,latter, a shaft arranged 3 parallel to said sluice-way and providedwith ratchet teeth, bell-crank levers having their medial portionspivotally mounted on the-shaft,

' pawls mounted on the bell-crank levers and en;

gageable with said ratchet teeth, connecting elevers to the buckets, andcounter-weights carried by the other ends of the bell-crank levers;

7. Apparatus of the'character described, comprising a sluice-wayconsisting of an upper supply duct anda lower-waste duct communicatingthrough hollow shaft passages, buckets mounted for reciprocation in saidpassages and arranged to receive -water from the supply duct, saidbuckets descending in the shaft passages due to the weight of the waterreceived and acting to, dump said water into the waste duct, means forraising each bucket independently of the other buckets after said buckethas dumped its contentsinto the waste duct, and means for utiliz-.

ing movements of the buckets for generating power, each bucket having anopening in its side ments joining certain ends of the bell-crank le- 5through which the'bucket is filled and emptied;

8. In mechanism of the character described,

an-upper supply duct, a lower waste duct arranged at a lower elevationthan the supply duct,

vertical shaft passages connecting the ducts and. v

communicating with the latter, movablegates for preventing water in thesupply duct from flowing into the shaft passages, reciprocating municatefirst with the supply duct and after,- wards with the waste duct, saidgates being engageable by the buckets and actuated thereby,

buckets in the shaft passages adapted to conimeans for'moving eachbucket toward theupper; ends of the shaft passages independently of themovement of the other buckets, and means for I

